Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

Information regarding the ‘CPS prosecuting 50 assaults on emergency workers every day’

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act, and with reference to your press release of 07 January 2020, ‘CPS prosecuting 50 assaults on emergency workers every day’ (see below):

https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/cps-prosecuting-50-assaults-emergency-workers-every-day

I would be grateful if you could provide me with the below information.

Please can you provide me with the full sample of prosecutions data mentioned in that press release, including the variables:-

(i) The occupational backgrounds of victims (police, ambulance workers etc); (ii) The type of assault committed (assaults by beating, common assault, sexual assault etc.); (iii) Descriptive data (such as information on intoxication of suspects, whether assaults involved biting etc.); and (iv) Any other data headings held by the CPS.

Where data categories could potentially be used to identify victims or assailants (such as date of offence or location) then please disregard those headings.

Response

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) press release, referred to in your request for information, contains data regarding the number of offences charged under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act during its first year of legislation.

The CPS does not hold central records of the details requested in parts (i) to (iv). A manual examination of every case containing an offence charged by way of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act between November 2018 and 2019 would be required in order to determine the information sought. As an indication of the work this would involve, our records indicate that there was an equivalent of 13,951 relevant cases.

Section 12(1) of the FOI Act means public authorities are not obliged to comply with a request for information if it estimates the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit for central government it is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working days determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We believe that the cost of reviewing the equivalent of 13,951 cases would exceed the appropriate limit. Consequently, we are not obliged to comply with your request.

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0788 IMU@cps.gov.uk